


I'm Glad I Brought Some Pencils

by HQ_Wingster



Series: Hogwarts Life [4]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Class 3 E (Assassination Classroom), Coming of Age, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Friendship, Friendship is Magic, Funny, Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Mornings, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Open to Interpretation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:19:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11250171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HQ_Wingster/pseuds/HQ_Wingster
Summary: [First Year]A slice of life for the first week at Hogwarts. With crazy teachers, rather tame lessons, odd first-years, and with plenty of ways to get into trouble, how bad can a first week of school be? Whatever the situation may be, Nagisa is glad that he brought along some pencils to document this whacky journey. His mother would not believe the absurdity but beauty of being here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.





	I'm Glad I Brought Some Pencils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mornings are strange at Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only chapter in this segment that details a morning routine. I don't want to start the other chapters with a morning routine too, because that'll get boring real quickly. So, only in this chapter, will you get a morning routine. The next 7 chapters will detail the classes. From Monday to Saturday. Whew...
> 
> This chapter is pretty much exposition setup. Get to know our characters better, get to know the people that Nagisa will be spending a lot of time with. You're following the kid's journey as he develops friendships because for a long time, Karma was one--if not the only--of the few people that Nagisa grew close to while growing up. And as someone gets older, you realize that it gets unhealthy when one person becomes your centre. So in a weird way, I'm also projecting bits of myself and how I interacted with people.
> 
> Nagisa is still young. Still finding the right people to associate himself with. He'll find people that aren't good, people that are good, people that are a bad or good influence. He's learning all of that, one step at a time. This note got real personal.

The first day of school felt different.

Instead of the usual rampage of complaints and fake-illnesses for a typical school, Hogwarts was a calm sanctuary in the centre of the English madness. So calm-- _ in fact-- _ that Koro-sensei could throw his bitter brew of tea out his office window, watering the early August blooms down below. No commotion, no fuss. Nothing to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that swaddled Hogwarts in an imaginary baby blanket. Absolutely nothing to...Koro-sensei spoke too soon. Apparently, someone flooded the Slytherin Common Room. Professor Smog was livid, calling in for backup. The Common Room was a  _ dungeon _ , for crying out loud! Who had the audacity to…?  _ Well,  _ this was an interesting way to wake up your Housemates,  _ Mr. Akabane. _ Koro-sensei sighed, wiping his forehead with a tentacle.  _ You know, there are more conventional methods of waking people up. _

Sure, those methods took some time to wake up the sleepy-heads but after a quick reminder of where they were, those tired souls perked up and managed to slip out of bed without a problem.

Beds creaked in the darkness while blankets fell in heaps. Someone switched on a light without warning, receiving silent glares from peers. A warm backdrop of canary yellow offered paradise to sore eyes. Grabbing towels and toothbrushes, the Hufflepuffs in the boys’ dormitory filed into the connected bathroom, close to where the current fourth-years were bunking. Beyond the bathroom doors were rows of sinks next to every wall in the tiled room. Right in the middle was a forest of showers and curtains. Around ten or so, depending on how many boys were living in the dormitory at any given year. And if someone had in mind a bubble bath for the evening, there were a few ceramic tubs in another connected room. Towards the left, beyond the busted sink.

Some boys went to brush their teeth, and others stayed in line to use the showers. Some just went to the toilets in the back and camped in a stall, contemplating their short lives after a relieved bladder break. If you were good at managing your time, squeezing in moments like these wasn’t hard.  _ Especially if you were a first-year. _ Not too many classes to juggle at a time, but one had to start off easy before things got really difficult. A N.E.W.T. student relayed all his shower-horror stories to the blinking first-years that waited in line with him, but it was too early in the morning for a reaction. The biggest upset came from Masayoshi when he realized that he forgot his toothpaste. Head low, he shuffled out of the shower line and took the walk of shame as he went to retrieve it.

Rummaging through his luggage, Masayoshi perked up when he heard Isogai’s voice. About three beds down. Even though it was barely the crack of dawn, Isogai was more prepared than the seventh years back in the bathroom. Already in his uniform and with his wand tucked behind his left ear, Isogai gently shook a sleeping body. Hidden under a thick, yellow blanket.

_ “Nagisa, wake up. It’s the first day of school,”  _ he whispered. No movement. Isogai gently prodded his friend with a nosy finger. A hand clawed out from under the blanket, batting Isogai away. Slight stirring before Nagisa rolled over. Isogai remained persistent.  _ “You have to wake up. You’re going to miss breakfast.”  _ Nothing.

_ “I can help,”  _ Masayoshi whispered. After crawling over some beds and luggage cases, Masayoshi approached the right side of Nagisa’s bed. Rubbing his hands together, the first-year gestured for Isogai to keep quiet and to step back a little. Isogai did, eyebrow raised.  _ “I got this,”  _ Masayoshi mouthed. Breathing as quietly as possible, Masayoshi hovered his hands over where he thought Nagisa’s shoulder was and yelled, “YOU’RE LATE!” In a rush, Masayoshi dug his fingers into Nagisa’s side. When the blanket moved, Masayoshi hid behind a vacant bed and peeked over the crumbled blankets. Trembling from head to toe.

Nagisa finally got up, slowly. His blanket slipped off in a dramatic fashion, exposing more than a hint of his shoulder. His gray tank-top ruffled at the bottom because Nagisa had spent  the entire night burrowing deeper into his bed like a gopher. His hair trickled past his shoulders and stopped at the middle of his back. And probably the scariest thing about all of this was that Nagisa didn’t speak a word when he got out of bed. Shuffling to the bathroom with a stubby toothbrush. Heels dragging with each step. Head low like a wandering spirit that didn’t know that he was dead. Miraculously, Nagisa didn’t bump into anything. Back in reality, it was  _ different  _ story.

Masayoshi pointed at Nagisa with a quivering finger. He looked at Isogai, he looked at Nagisa, and then back at Isogai. As if the prepared Hufflepuff boy knew all the secrets to this universe, like they were written on the back of his hand.

“Before you say anything,” Isogai started when Masayoshi opened his mouth. “Nagisa  _ is  _ a guy.”

Masayoshi swallowed a chunk of spit that had collected inside his cheeks.  _ “What?”  _ he squeaked.

“Nagisa might look different from the rest of us, but it doesn’t make him any less of a guy. If he identifies himself as one, all we can do is support him. You know, there’s more acceptance for this now.” A charming smile from Isogai and an imaginary light-bulb flashed above the boy’s head. Grabbing a clean towel, Isogai rushed to catch up to Nagisa and Masayoshi was left behind. More confused than what he started the morning with.

Back in the bathroom, Nagisa turned several heads amongst his peers and upperclassmen. The younger boys hid themselves behind each other, or they pulled and wrapped towels around their waists. Even the guys who were brushing their teeth did the same, even though they were clothed from shoulder to mid-thigh. The older boys tried to ease the chaos, to no success. The ones between both age-groups approached Nagisa slowly, asked him innocently if he had gone up the wrong dormitory last night.

You would think that Hufflepuffs are prepared for any situation. That was not the case for this situation. Nagisa walked right past the chaos. Head low and with a toothbrush between his teeth. Luckily for him, Isogai came in and had Nagisa’s back, calmly explaining the situation. He quickly draped a towel over Nagisa’s shoulders before the boy shuffled towards a sink to brush his teeth.

Pawing at the sink handles, Nagisa’s bathroom experience was pretty much a blur after that. He noticed a few things. Like the crack in Isogai’s voice and a few familiar faces from last night at the Hogwarts Banquet. Other than that, Nagisa’s body moved through a morning routine on its own and safely brought its owner back to the bed. Where Nagisa hid himself under his blanket to go back to sleep. But already, more voices came over and persuaded him to stay awake. One of voice of reason resonated better than the rest.

“Dude--” A creak from a bed on Nagisa’s right “--you got the right idea.” Maehara would’ve gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for “Mama” Isogai’s meddling. The boy did nothing threatening, but the tone of disappointment was enough to cut Maehara.

“Come on, Nagisa. Don’t you want to see Chiba, Sugino, and Karma?” Isogai pulled off his sweet, honey voice. Milking every worth of it as he tried to pry the blanket off of his pal. Nagisa didn’t budge. Not one bit. The boy was successfully buried under his blanket, ready to hibernate until Christmas. Isogai tried again. “We get to go to our classes today. That’s exciting, right?”

“You’re going to need to step up your game, Prince Charming.” Maehara slipped off his bed and grabbed his satchel from the floor. “That’s not going to wake up anybody.” Was the boy flirting? Flirting with  _ danger  _ because a sharp-tongued kid was better at cutting words than a sweet, velvet voice. Despite all of that, his opponent didn’t take the hint.

“Thanks for the comment.” Isogai had a genuine smile, and it was more than Maehara could handle on a morning like this. Shuddering, he left the dorm room with Masayoshi. Leaving Isogai alone with Nagisa to deal. There had to be a way to persuade Nagisa to get up. But what? Nothing came to mind for Isogai, and nothing came to mind for Nagisa. Hiding under his blanket, the shorter male rubbed his eyes. His eye-lids were heavy, and the bed seemed so peaceful. Maybe Isogai will give up. Just maybe. If Nagisa kept his stance strong, Isogai will have to leave. Nothing that the he could do about it. Because in life, there were only a handful of things that humans could control before having to let something go.

In the heavy silence, Isogai spoke again. Gentler, quieter, and for Nagisa’s ears only.

_ “It might be hard to believe, but I didn’t want to get up either.”  _ A sigh escaped from Isogai as he sat on the edge of Nagisa’s bed. Hesitated before petting his friend’s protruding shoulder. It stuck up like a mountain coated in a blanket snow.  _ “It felt weird waking up in a room that had more breathing than I preferred.”  _ Okay, Isogai had to reel the conversation back from the tipping point. He sounded like a serial-killer, and he hoped that Nagisa was sleepy enough to ignore that line.  _ “And yeah, I’m a little homesick. Miss hearing my little brother and sister running up and down the stairs. Miss hearing my Mom sizzle bacon in the kitchen. All that stuff reminds me of home, but then I realized that I could adapt to a Hogwarts morning.”  _ Awkward or not, Isogai rubbed Nagisa’s shoulder.  _ “I just want you to know that. If you’re homesick, you can talk to me and the others about it. We’re on the same boat. Okay?” _

Nagisa stirred slightly before getting up. Poking his head out first with a caution on the wind before emerging from his blanket nest. He managed a weak smile before asking Isogai to turn around so that he could change into his robes. Five minutes later, both boys trooped down from the boys’ dormitory and shuffled to the Great Hall. Leaving the Hufflepuff Common Room, a waft of baked bread trailed after the boys. Isogai sniffed casually and felt rejuvenated. Nagisa’s stomach growled, and he laughed to cover it up. As he walked, Isogai followed behind him. Pulling Nagisa’s hair into a ponytail. It was a really good one, and Isogai credited his little sister.

“She always gets her ponytail messy or undone, so I help clean it up while Mom’s at work.”

“That’s cool.” Nagisa tugged his robes. Isogai’s safety pins really helped him out.  _ Big time. _ Without them, Nagisa would’ve tripped over his robes. On the ever growing list of things Nagisa needed to ask, the first-year wondered if there was a tailor at Hogwarts. And maybe, the tailor might have scissors so that Nagisa could finally cut his hair. He would have to keep an ear out for that.

When the boys finally made it to the Great Hall, the only people there were Maehara, Masayoshi, and a few mingling professors. Complaining that he woke up early for nothing, Maehara dragged his body off from the Hufflepuff table and shuffled out. Isogai caught him and led the troubled boy back to his seat. Because as Hufflepuffs, arriving early was better than arriving on time. Part of being a good friend. Show up early and tidy things up until the main show arrived. Maehara stuck his tongue out before burying his head into his satchel.

“I think I’ll get used to this,” Masayoshi chirped, swinging his legs back and forth like a kid on a pier. “Nice and quiet. Complete madhouse yesterday, don’t y’all agree?”

Little conversations sprung up. Maehara eventually saw the light again, muttering how the Hufflepuff girls were smarter than them. At least  _ they  _ knew a reasonable time to leave the Common Room. He glared at Isogai, and the boy tilted his head with an innocent smile. There was almost something threatening about that smile, so Maehara kept his distance. Wand in his hand, but under the table. Eyes narrowing when he saw that Isogai’s wand wasn’t by his left ear. 

The tables turned. Maehara reacted first, shooting sparks from his wand. Isogai dodged and fired his down. Masayoshi ducked under his seat. Sticking his head up every now and then to see the “duel”, only to duck at the last second when sparks flew his way. Nagisa stayed perfectly still, watching the sparks weave past him like he was an invisible threat. Eventually, he and Masayoshi got their wands out and joined the fray. Innocent little “duel” until a mini fire erupted over the table, and Masayoshi grabbed a textbook. Beating the flames with a mighy slam.

Some more people came after the burning. A thin trickle of Ravenclaws huddled together. Chiba was with them, and Isogai sent cheery waves and greeted the Ravenclaws. Maehara followed Isogai from the corner of his eye, wondering what the boy was up to. Did no one else notice how strange Isogai was acting?

“He’s being nice,” Masayoshi said. Nagisa lifted his head off from the table and nodded.

Maehara bit his bottom lip. “I don’t know. There’s something about him. Kind of pisses me off.”

“If you want to be in the centre of attention, just do well in your he classes,” Nagisa mumbled. To his surprise, Masayoshi and Maehara paused to hear what he said. Nagisa shifted his weight unsteadily. Settling on his left side before continuing. “Hogwarts is a boarding school. If you’re the top of your classes, people will remember you.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Even in academics, competition wasn’t a rare sight. In a normal school, competing for the top marks and rank meant a successful future because the big schools noticed you first. At least, that was what adults wanted students to think. In the reality behind it all, it was just a way to cultivate studious minds. A way to discharge violent tendencies and to use that energy to serve the greater good. Whatever  _ that  _ was. Hogwarts held the same standards but somehow, it felt different. It wasn’t just about getting good grades for an awesome career afterwards.

In a silent agreement, being the best at something earned bragging rights to one of the three blood statuses that occupied Hogwarts Castle. The purebloods, the half-bloods, and the Muggle-borns.

Everyone fell into one of the categories, and it was a competition. Whoever had more of the the best and the brightest had the most control. That was what it boiled down to. Stereotypes aside, being part of a community of others who strove towards the same or similar goal had a way of stepping up the game for some people. Fueling their inner fire. Perhaps, House rivalries were more of a second-thought now. With blood status on the line, that really got the fire burning between students. Healthy dose of competition to mold bright, little minds in a controlled space.

Maehara was a half-blood while Isogai was a Muggle-born. Obvious tension between the two, though it was one-sided at best. Isogai was too friendly to notice any of it. Maehara kept a running list of the sly glances and smiles that Isogai sent his way, using it as fuel to motivate him to try his best. The boy who complained about homework yesterday was the first to grab a timetable from the Head of Hufflepuff, Professor Yukimura. Maehara ate all the information with his eyes, staring at the timetable like it told him the secrets to the world.

Masayoshi and Nagisa glanced at each other briefly, shrugged, and glanced down at their own timetables. Classes were spread out and at most, it looked like they had around two to three classes a day. Not bad. Quite easy, actually. More time to sit around and sleep for Nagisa. A smile tugged his lips.

Somehow without anyone noticing, the Great Hall was filled to the brim with students. Isogai returned to the Hufflepuff table and pulled out a satchel from nowhere. Saying that he packed Nagisa’s school supplies into it. He quickly apologized for going through Nagisa’s things, and the boy appreciated that.

“You pretty much crashed last night,” Isogai explained. “I didn’t want you to scramble after breakfast.”

“Thank you?” Nagisa looked through his satchel. A few notebooks, pencils, pens, scrolls of parchment paper, and a little plastic box to hold quills and ink. Isogai suggested that it was probably better not to forgo some old habits. Keep notes in a notebook, turn in assignments with parchment paper and ink. And before anyone could call it, Isogai had naturally ascended to a parental-role over the course of a night and a brief morning. Prepared for anything. Always looking out for others. Trying to keep peace amongst friends and classmates. Even enemies.

When breakfast came around, Maehara forgoed his pride and admitted that Isogai would be a good study partner. Any chance that they could review notes and a few textbooks after today’s classes? Isogai was more than happy to, even saying that they could go to the library and do some extra-reading to  _ really  _ get ahead of the curve. And so, the very one-sided rivalry turned into a compromise. Making Masayoshi happy and Nagisa would’ve been thrilled, but the boy desperately needed a cup of coffee. Nagisa wandered up and down the table, looking. It could’ve been weak, gas station coffee or straight up black coffee. Anything.

_ I can eat a light lunch and spend the last twenty minutes napping.  _ Seemed like a good idea, but the first class of the day was Potions. If they had to brew something today, Nagisa was very sure that he would set the classroom on fire. The odds weren’t looking good, so Nagisa settled on some orange juice. Nursing the acidic drink while some first-year girls poked honey buns at his cheek. But when it came down to it, Nagisa stepped into the Potions classroom with his head held high, about an hour later. Sleep weighed him down, but orange juice kept his blood pumping for whatever craziness that was in his way.

The greatest gift of all: Nagisa was glad that he brought some pencils.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter---> Classes: Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. /gasp/


End file.
